Tullamore impress in pre-season friendlies

Displaying tremendous application and organisation, Tullamore nearly brought their more illustrious neighbours the full distance before finally falling to a magnificent late strike from local player Kevin Williamson in Leah Victoria Park on Tuesday of last week. The improvement in the side under new manager Mark Dempsey was remarkable. It augers well for the coming season as they prepare for their second tilt at the League of Ireland 'A' Championship. On 20 minutes, Tullamore fell behind when the defence failed to deal with a left wing cross and the ball was swept home at the far post. Five minutes later Tullamore were back on level terms when Mark Goodings" shot was blocked on the line and Michael Hoey was first to react to hammer the rebound to the net for a well deserved equaliser. With ten minutes remaining, Kevin Williamson latched on to a loose ball out of defence and from fully thirty yards he lashed the ball in off the underside of the crossbar for a wonderful winning goal. If this opening game under the new regime is anything to go by, then Tullamore supporters are in for an exciting summer of soccer as their team are giving every indication of stepping up to the mark. In what was a hugely impressive performance there were outstanding contributions from Scott Delaney, Michael Kenaney, Brian Francis, Kevin Duffy and Simon Keegan but the man of the match award went to their defensive rock Eoghan O"Shea. Tullamore: Joe Mooney, Trevor Moylan, Eoghan O"Shea, Scott Delaney, Michael Kenaney, Fergal Gorman, Brian Francis, Kevin Duffy, Simon Keegan, Mark Goodings and Michael Hoey. Subs: Stephen Francis, Stewart Kavanagh, Dean Goode, Enda Carroll, Aidan Nicholson and Gavin Shiels. Tullamore Town 0 Kildare County 0 For the second time in a week Tullamore squared up to First Division opposition as they welcomed Kildare County to Leah Victoria Park last Sunday. While the game failed to produce any goals there were chances aplenty with Town enjoying the better of the exchanges as they served up another impressive performance. Tullamore showed that they are well capable of creating chances at this level and had they been a little sharper up front they would have won this game comfortably. Tullamore: Joe Mooney, Eoghan O"Shea, Scott Delaney, Michael Kenaney, Fergal Gorman, Brian Francis, Stephen Francis, Simon Keegan, Mark Goodings and Michael Hoey. Subs : Dean Goode, Aidan Nicholson, Peter Martin, Enda Carroll and Brian O"Shea. Schoolboys Under-13 League - Tullamore Town 1 Birr Town 2 The Tullamore boys failed to raise their game as Birr went away with all three points from Leah Victoria Park. With ten minutes on the clock, the visitors hit the front when Colm Gath latched on to a through ball to fire home. With twenty minutes gone the home side were back in the game when Adam Shelly spotted the keeper off his line and fired a swerving cross shot into the roof of the net for a fine score and they nearly went ahead minutes later when Eoghan Coffey played a great ball through to John McEoy but his shot went into the side netting to leave the score 1-1 at the interval. Ten minutes into the second half, Birr regained the lead when following a corner James Guilfoyle hooked the ball off the line but Connor Nolan was on hand to fire the rebound home. With Dylan Kennedy and Connor Freeman outstanding at the back for the visitors, they held out comfortably for a well deserved victory.